1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to phonographs, and particularly to the types of phonographs known as toy phonographs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Toy phonographs, that is phonographs such as for use as talking voice boxes, such as for talking dolls or for other types of so-called toys such as talking alarm clocks, are well known. An example of such prior art toy phonographs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,589,735; 3,411,790; 3,538,638; 3,208,755; 3,055,664; 3,467,393; 3,823,946; 3,401,942; 3,208,755; 3,544,155; 3,784,210; 3,984,111; 4,055,351; Canadian Pat. No. 707,932; and British Patent No. 828,608, by way of example. In addition, a further example of such prior art toy phonographs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,017,187 and 3,286,396. The entire field with respect to toy phonographs has been quite active with the primary motivation, because of their use in toys, being economics, efficiency and size so as to provide a practical, commercial embodiment for use in economically viable children's toys. Thus, the above patents, provided by way of example, merely disclose a quantitatively small amount of the large volume of different types of toy phonographs existent in the prior art with the difference between the various prior art toy phonographs in an attempt to provide toy phonographs which are economically viable being relatively narrow since apparently minor improvements can provide a significant improvement in efficiency and economics in the area of toy phonographs.
One of the primary concerns in providing economically viable toy phonographs relates to the current drain on the drive motors of these toy phonographs during operation since high current drain results in high battery drain, shorter life, and lower efficiency of the motor. For example, the arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,467,393 employs a spring arrangement which acts upon the lift arm associated with the speaker cone such that the stylus pressure becomes greater as the stylus moves closer to the center of the turntable. This non-uniform pressure results in increased current drain on the motor and, the arrangement of the present invention, in which there is uniform pressure on the stylus or needle throughout its path of travel across the phonograph record, has been found to result in meaningfully less battery drain, longer life, and better efficiency of the drive motor, under the same operating conditions as the arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,467,393. Other prior art arrangements have attempted to employ uniform pressure directly on the speaker cone as opposed to on the lift arm, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,208,755; 3,286,396 and 3,017,187. However, such direct pressure on the speaker cone itself has not been found to be satisfactory. Moreover, such arrangements have not been employed in what are commonly termed single play talking boxes, which are toy phonographs which shut off after one play of the record. In such an arrangement, it is critical that electrical contact be broken when the needle reaches the end of the record. Thus, control of the drive mechanisms of prior art toy phonographs employing leaf spring contact switches adjacent the end of the record, including that described in my copending U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 747,484 and 825,940, require that electrical contact be broken at the exact moment when the needle reaches the end of the record. Moreover, in the instance of the toy phonographs described in the above copending patent applications, it is imperative that the needle arm protrusion pop in the hole in the lift bar at the correct time since the needle arm should only engage one record at a time on the common turntable. This requirement, if not met, could cause the end of the record to be reached and not turn off or could cause premature turn off before the end of the record. Thus, it is imperative that positive shut off be facilitated in such a single play arrangement, particularly if the single play arrangement is to be used in a dual record toy phonograph as described in the aforementioned copending patent applications.
Such dual record toy phonographs, however, are also known in the prior art, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,506,925; 2,858,374; 3,538,638; 3,055,664 and 3,411,790. Further, these prior art devices, apart from what is disclosed in my aforementioned two copending patent applications, have either involved conventional automatic record changing mechanisms such as in expensive high fidelity equipment, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,506,925 and 2,858,374, or elaborate mechanical interconnections such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,538,638, as opposed to the economic and efficient phonograph arrangements for enabling two separate phonograph records to be employed in the talking toy of the type disclosed in my two aforementioned copending patent applications.
These disadvantages of the prior art overcome by the present invention.